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As published in SAP Digital
Kaleem’s experience proves that data analytics is not just number-crunching and prediction. For his clients, it’s an opportunity to make better decisions while protecting people from the inevitable pitfalls of life.

“One of my clients in the healthcare industry was facing huge losses in an insurance-related contract with a union. Cash flows were diminishing, and costs were escalating. But more important, people’s jobs were at stake. Top management wanted an analytics dashboard that instantly provided the operational cost statistics of individual accounts. While this request was quite challenging to fulfill, SAP Crystal Reports has the formula functionality to make it happen. As a result, top management was able to recover hidden revenue and significant savings – while saving jobs in the process.”

Questions and Answers

Q: What is the biggest challenge businesses face when it comes to business intelligence (BI) and data?
A: Over the past 15 years, every company I have consulted can be summed up under one common theme: the need to strategize and make decisions based on highly integrated reports. Traditionally, IT owned every piece of data and the structure in which it resided. However, this is no longer sufficient as executives increasingly rely on real-time information to understand how their business is performing. Now, data must be accessible on demand and available in a format that is accurate and easy to digest.

Q: How have your clients changed the way they use data over the past five years?
A: I am finding that companies are increasingly adopting predictive analytics, data integration, and document automation. Insight, not hindsight, is the essence of running a business today. Decision makers want to know what’s going on and what can be expected in the future – and they want this information very quickly. How organizations capture, create, use, and analyze data is fundamentally changing every aspect of the business. With SAP Crystal Reports, advanced analytical reports can be prototyped and finalized so top management can go directly to the solution or a portal and run the report anytime and anywhere.

Q: What’s your best tip for generating reports that give an accurate view of the business?
A: Automate reports that are frequently requested so you can concentrate on the ones you can’t. All businesses have certain questions that will always require an update – whether it’s machinery performance, the number of open positions, or budget updates, among others. With SAP Crystal Reports, you can make these reports available on demand while ensuring the information is accurate and real-time.